Month: April 2014

Slopers and Styles

~ Michelle

I saw this and it gave me a smile. I thought I’d share it.

10156141_783375995006343_1467390804011357559_n

The other day my friend came over and she’s taking a class on making a sloper. She was having trouble getting her muslin to fit using the sloper pattern, so we looked at her instructions and it wasn’t making a lot of sense to me. I’m not the best when it’s all numbers.

I finally suggested she put the muslin on and I’d pin the sides where it needed to be taken in. She then traced the pin lines, and laid the pattern over the muslin and traced those lines onto it. And it worked. She sent me a message the next day to tell me I got an A+ on her assignment. We laughed over that. I was thankful her instructor did explain what she’d wanted her to accomplish with the numbers, and our way was just another (non-math) way to do it.

My sloper, or actually moulage, that I’ve been working on for a Craftsy class I’m taking is done. It’s an awesome class by the way – Patternmaking Basics – The Bodice Sloper. Boy is it a detailed class. And remember, I said I’m not a numbers person. There are a LOT of numbers; at times she’s using one set of numbers and I’m having to remember to use my own numbers. Whew! It’s a workout. But I’m trusting it will be well worth the effort by time I’m done.

My class is also fraction of the cost of my friend’s class. She paid over $300 for the class she’s taking. I think the Craftsy class is a much better deal. Oh, and I took another Craftsy class this past year and the instructor never responded to any of my questions – even after I mentioned this to Craftsy. And from reading the questions and comments, I wasn’t alone.  This class, I highly recommend and the instructor gets back really quickly.

One of the things I learned is before you make a sloper, you make a moulage, which is an exact skin-tight pattern. Then you add in some ease and have a sloper. My moulage was done in pencil, and although I took a picture, the paper looked blank. Here’s a sample picture to show what I’ve been working on.

sloper

I bought some fabric today and will sew it up either today or tomorrow. I know I don’t have the shoulders just perfect yet (my dear hubby measured me), but will use that same pinch method to get them better and anywhere else I need to fix. Then I will adjust the moulage.

Happy creating! I’m off to work on my moulage.

Seemed to Take Forever!

~ Michelle

A while back – it was January, I think – I mentioned I’d ordered a booklet on altering bodices. It was one of those things that seemed to be taking a long time getting to me, so I went online and looked up the tracking number to see when I had ordered it. It had been about a month at this point. I thought it should have arrived by now.

What I found surprised me. That little packet had made it all the way from Australia to my little town in Alberta, Canada, but didn’t make it to me! I could hardly believe the label fell off while it was on its way to being delivered to my door. It made it to the post office, was out for delivery and then the next thing on the detail list from the tracking number was it had been sent to the Undeliverable Mail Office. Maybe I should call that bag of bras that don’t fit The Undeliverable Bra Bag.

What a run around! I spoke to one woman in the post office and she took all the information I had like my name, address, the tracking number, the sender’s name and address too,  and at the end of the call said for me to stay home the next day – the parcel would be delivered then. Well, that day came and went, and I waited, but no one came to my door. I called the post office again.

The next person I spoke to was most unhelpful. She could not give a straight answer no matter what I asked her. I might get the parcel in a month, but there was no guarantee. That, definitely, without a doubt or hesitation, was a very frustrating phone call, and nothing resulted from it.

I think a weekend came at this point and I had to wait a few days before I could call again. The person I spoke with took all my information (again), and this time was very helpful. She assured me I had given enough information, and with the tracking information, was the person who was supposed to receive that package. Whew. I was told it would be on its way to me.

During all of this, I was in contact with the sender and author of the booklet. She was as anxious as I was for this parcel to be delivered. I’d shared every false-positive start I’d had.  We were both in waiting mode at this point.

The next I heard from the post office was a lovely official letter telling me that as the addressee I had no authority to start an investigation as to the whereabouts of this parcel! So, I contacted the post office again, but this time to ask why all the run around. Why was I being asked for information, providing it, being told that was enough, and then being told it wasn’t, later, in a letter. They apologized profusely at this point, and told me what information the sender needed to include to start an investigation from her post office in Australia.

All I can say is, 38 emails and 5 or 6 phone calls, a letter, and three months later, I got my parcel. The envelope it was in was pristine! Not a mark or tear on it; no label either. Somehow, that had gotten lost.

booklet

But here it is now, on my desk. Now to finish that bodice sloper and get started on some fun projects in here!

And lastly, a bit a teaser. I’ve been playing with some lace placement.

playing with lace 1

I bought this lace from Margreet’s Etsy store, Merckwaerdigh. She has so many beautiful lingerie sets.

playing with lace 2

This may not show wonderfully, but this is the bridge. More pictures to come soon.

Happy Creating!

A Few Accomplishments!

~ Michelle

My husband and I went away last week for our 22nd anniversary. We found a wonderful deal at Christmas time and bought it and put it away for ourselves. We only live 4 hours from the Rocky Mountains, and it’s our favorite vacation spot. Our suite had a tremendous view! Just look at this:

View from Windtower Rm 234

This was the view from the kitchen patio door. I could just sit and look out at that. We spent 4 days with that view, and although there was still snow on the ground, and we even woke up to snow one morning, it was still perfect!

I took a few projects on my trip that I wanted to complete while I was there. One project was to complete the measurements for a bodice sloper. That’s not a big deal, but for some reason those last few measurements just weren’t getting done. They’re done now, so I can work on that.

Another project was fingerless gloves. I was determined to get them done. (I know, Andrea, it’s a bit late in the season.) I’d looked at many patterns, and finally settled on one I found on Ravelry. These are based on the Vanilla Frappe Fingerless Gloves. You can find the pattern here.

I really liked the ‘body’ part of this pattern, and decided to do just that, with a scallop border on the top and bottom. The body is knit; I crocheted the borders, so mine look different than the originals, but I’m happy with them.

fingerless glove 2

I’ve sewn one, and one waiting to be sewn up.

fingerless glove 1

The ball of white yarn is to do some flowers or hearts or some type of embellishment.

So two projects done. I also took my sewing kit to tighten a button on my coat, but that’s still on my to-do list.

And when I got back I had one more accomplishment!

I worked on another bra. I knew the area that needed work – the bridge – so I tackled that as soon as I got home. And another success! I have the best fit I’ve tried for yet! Let me tell you, if you’ve never had a properly fitting bra – one where the bridge goes all the way back to the chest wall – well, it’s a different feeling. I’ve never felt that. It’s not uncomfortable, but it is different for me.

plunge bra prototype

When I started this bra, I have to admit, I wasn’t feeling super encouraged. It feels like there have been too many challenges along the way that left me less than hopeful. I even skipped some of the little finishing details on this bra – finishing details that made it onto all the other attempts I’d made. However, this one only needs minor tweaking. That has me excited!

One of those minor tweaks? The bridge can still come up about 1/4″. But that’s it’s. So now I need to look at plunge styles. I haven’t seen a lot of patterns for plunge bras. Does anyone know of any?

For this bra, I took my Sewy Rebecca pattern and made it into a Classic pattern. I also straightened the lower edge of the upper cup to get the most lift. I decided not to do a three or four piece cup on this so it would sew up more quickly, and also I don’t see a lot of plunge bras that have those features. So, once I had a basic Classic pattern, I used my trusty Bra Makers Manual to change the cup shape to a plunge style, or ‘fake’ demi-style.

plunge back 2

A very basic back, with the Prima Donna U-shaped back. I don’t think they’re the only ones doing this now, but I do remember them advertising this feature.

So a few little glitches I ran into while sewing this? You can see in the above picture that the back band is a bit smaller than the hook and eye closures. That’s a small adjustment. You can see it better here:

plunge back

That’s not a big deal – just a small tweak.

Another small tweak is the lower cup. I still have to make adjustments for the Omega shape, and need to fit a larger cup into a smaller wire. On this bra, (again) I didn’t put a lot of effort into it. So when it came time to fit the cup, I simply put a fold in the lower cup’s material. The cup still fits fine, and the seam line fit as well. I have altered the pattern with a dart to take out that excess on the next one I do.

plunge bra dart

You can see the tuck here. It shows more here than when I’m wearing it.

Bow to cover seam

Lastly, a tweak to make is my order of sewing if I do this style again. On this bra I had the cups sewn into the cradle and then looked and I still had to add the neckline trim. On a style like this, I think it would be better to do that before putting the cups into the bra. It works fine, but would be neater sewn the other way.

So, I’m very happy to say I’ve had SUCCESS! It feels really good to know I’m there with just a few minor tweaks now. Whew! I said a long time ago that I hoped my journey would encourage someone else not to give up! How long has it taken me?

Here’s to happy & successful creating!

Will It Ever Stop Snowing? And Other Greats!

~ Michelle

I saw a cute video by Rick Mercer, a Canadian comedian, which depicts how I feel so well:

Yes, that is the sad state many Canadians are in right now. We’re just hoping for warmer weather, and … well, it’s snowing right now. Sigh. So much for the calendar saying Spring.

I’ll happily stay indoors today and work on my pattern, right? Sigh, the pattern. Okay, I’m going to focus on the positives and deal with the challenges next.

I got the short wires from Bra Makers Supply. I’m was hoping for the same length on the side, and shorter at the front to accommodate the lower bridge. Great! But nope, those didn’t work the way I wanted them to – too short on the side. I think I still want the Vertical wires, I’ll follow Amy’s suggestions on her blog (Cloth Habit) for shortening them.

With newly shortened Vertical wires in hand, I got out my Bra Makers Manual and drew a new bridge & cradle for these new wires. Another great! But, I’m not done with this topic yet. More to follow…

Then I decided to make sure my custom bridge really was the best fit I could get. An article from Threads that talks about making a Duct Tape Sloper was my inspiration. I decided to follow the same principle and use multiple layers of tape to make a ‘sloper’ for my bridge. That worked well too. And then I checked it against the custom bridge I’d made. It is almost exactly the same as what I’d done when I followed the instructions in Norma’s book, Demystifying Bra Fitting and Construction. So I have my correct bridge shape. Great!

full bridge

Here’s my little tape sloper. I didn’t continue the sloper past the marker – that wasn’t the problem area, so I focused on the middle of the bridge. The rest of the wire was fitting fine. But that area…

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is the difference between my little tape sloper and the newly drafted cradle pattern. Yes, there is a problem.

cradle issue

Do you see that area at the front of the cradle where the bridge is? It’s nice and round. I don’t match. So, what to do about that?

I have asked that question before, and didn’t get an answer that was satisfactory. I was told by one person there was nothing to be done about that. But that’s an important very supportive area, and it does need to fit. So, I re-drew the cradle with the custom bridge in place of the bridge here.

Back to those shortened wires. Oh my! I will tell you, shortening them is not a problem. However, covering that rough edge is! I read Amy post, and decided to follow her suggestions for using Plasti-Dip. There was no variety of colors, in fact I had my choice of red or black. That was it.

So with red Plasti-Dip in hand, I came home and dipped my newly cut and filed wires. I let them dry overnight even. They looked great! And then came that magical moment when I went to insert them into the bra channel. I should have taken a picture… I inserted the newly rubberized end of the wire into the channel and pushed, and pushed and pushed. Then I did what I’m sure 99% of married women do when they can’t do something physically — I called my husband. ‘Honey can you help me?’ He pushed and pushed. And then looked at me and said that’s not going anywhere.

It seems Plasti-Dip is a rubber coating. Rubbery is not what I was expecting. I’ve been to every hardware store in 3 towns and no one has anything other than the rubber coating-type Plasti-Dip. Well, that didn’t work.

I have read about others using Goop, but I don’t think that is a preferred method. I bought some heat-shrink tubing and will try that. I’ve said this before, and it’s still true… I’m close.

Happy Creating!